Old Photos
by Wind-on-wave
Summary: IDW G1. Timeline - Drift #2. Once Drift found old photo archive, which reminded to him about those life, that has gone forever.


The old holophotos were all still as bright as they were many hundreds of vorns ago, when someone captured in the homocamera's viewfinder a lot of tiny, insignificant details of Cybertronian life. Life that was still peaceful.  
Drift was very careful, as if the holophotos were made of a brittle material that could fall apart ; nonsense, of course, but the ex-Decepticon could not get rid of that feeling. He had found the memory card by accident, during a cycle when he had been left alone; Wing had briefly smiled, promised to return soon, and disappeared, all without paying attention to Drift's gloomy gaze. And Drift, in some kind of meaningless revenge for the jet's silence, during the half cycle had examined the Knight's apartment. Not because he wanted to find something; he was angry, but it seemed more like a bizarre, strange curiosity.  
Wing hadn't known that his holoarchive had been discovered. The ex-Decepticon had managed to hide the traces of his presence, and the memory card was kept in a tiny compartment under his armor. Using the jet's absences, Drift would insert the card into a datapad and go flipping, flipping through endless shots of the cities: Iacon, Tyrest, Vos, orbital stations, some unidentified corners of the planet. Some holophotos felt like furtive peeped moments: two contending wheeled bots, a Seeker casually leaning on the parapet of a balcony, a serious minibot - Cybertron's random mechs, just caught in the viewfinder. Drift poured over them , unable to stop flipping through the pictures that had preserved the old life. The life that he never knew, being locked in the dark corner of the slums, devoid of even a glimpse of clear sky overhead.  
The ex-Decepticon didn't hear the other's steps. He didn't expect that jet would return so soon and froze when heard the Knight's voice behind him. "It's the Space Academy of Vos." Wing looked at the holophoto of an openwork building with thin arches and bays. Drift reached to turn the datapad off, but the Knight shook his helmet. "No, I'm glad that you found this archive."  
There was an incredulous grin as Drift answered. "Stole."  
"Borrowed?" Wing came closer, bending over Cybertronian sitting on the floor and smiled, silently cutting off Drift's objections. Drift paused and tried to give the datapad to the jet, but Wing sat down beside the other without any explanation.  
"There's more images of Vos."  
"Have't yet seen them," Drift muttered, still holding the datapad with the trembling hologram over it, expecting that Wing would take it.  
"So look." The Knight tipped his head slightly to one side, looking with soft expectation at the white mech who was sullen, silent, and tapping his fingers on the back of the datapad.  
"Drift," Wing broke the silence. "Show me Vos's photos. They are... very beautiful."  
"Scroll by yourself. It's… uhm... Well, it's your archive."  
Wing leaned his elbow on his knee, while continuing to look on at the ex-Decepticon with a soft smile that disappeared and reappeared. There was silence directed towards Drift as Wing waited for him to answer, broken only by the faint rustle of ventilation. The white mech let his optics drift to the dark hilt of Wing's long sword; the jet had put it beside him when he sat down on the floor, and now the Knight's palm barely touched the rough metal.  
It seemed to Drift that the awkward silence lasted almost half a cycle, even though his chronometer counted only a few kliks.  
The ex-Decepticon felt the other's gaze - cautious, light, and somehow sure. Wing was smiling again. A moment passed. And another. One more.  
"Enough!" Drift said sharply. "Stop... This!"  
"This?" The jet shook his head again in easy amazement.  
"Yes. This. Your silence and staring," the former `Con continued just as sharply, heaving a sigh through his ventilation system.  
"I'm waiting until you show me the rest of the photos," the Knight calmly replied, shifting his gaze to the current photo: a view of a broad, high window beyond which the silvery city towers could be seen.  
"I said," Drift hissed, trying but failing to somewhat forcefully cram the datapad into Wing's hands, "Look at them yourself! It's your archive and your datapad - come on, come on!"  
The sharp, white plates on the jet's shoulders slightly lifted and then lowered in a gesture of quiet bewilderment.  
"It is that difficult to push a button?"  
"No."  
Wing silently nodded, as if asking what Drift was waiting for.  
"It's…" Drift muttered grimly, "The principle."  
"Yes," answered the Knight. "And what principle is that?"  
"Mine."  
Wing leaned his chin on his palm, vainly hiding a smile under his fingers. "So, this is YOUR principle that does't allow you to press the button to start showing more photos?"  
Once again there was silence after the question. The two mechs sat side by side, looking in different directions; one's optics was soft, full of golden light, while the other frowned and tapped his fingers sharply on his knee.  
"Okay. Okay!" Drift said after the twentieth klik of silence, noisily blowing hot air. "We'll look at the damn rusty photos!"  
He put the datapad on the floor between the jet and himself, activating the automatic change of images.  
"Satisfied now?"  
Wing smiled, looking on at the still-gloomy Drift. On the new holophoto, there was a shimmering panorama of the city of Vos, with the sharp towers' spires bursting into the dark Cybertronian sky. On the thin towers ran a chain of silvery lights, turning the city into a bizarre glowing web.  
"Vos was an extraordinary city."  
"I was there... a long time ago. After the war began." Drift said dully, his audios cathing a soft chuckle.  
"I'll tell you about it, if you want"  
A pause - light and weightless.  
"I'd like that."


End file.
